The two ladies above are, U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton (left) and the new Foreign Minister of the European Union, Catherine, Baroness Ashton (right).

One of the nice things about Hillary Rodham Clinton is that she can be refreshingly disarming and direct. Secretary of State Clinton is not only a highly intelligent and articulate woman, she can display at times an honest directness that is extremely rewarding to witness. The classic example so far as this great lady is concerned was some years ago when her husband Bill Clinton was campaigning for the U.S. Presidency. The couple were on U.S. T.V. and Bill was being interviewed by a political journalist. It was a conventional pattern of interview with Bill being asked an awkward question that sought to challenge a particular policy that he was espousing. Bill might have at that point have performed the traditional political avoidance manoeuvre of answering a different question to the one asked. That however was before Hillary became embroiled. Fed up of seeing her husband parry the question (it had been asked and dodged before on previous interviews) Hillary spoke out and famously declared: “….Look. This is our [the Democratic Party’s] policy. Heck. If you don’t like it. Don’t vote for it!” It was a truly wonderful moment in politics.

Unfortunately for the mendacious and treacherous Europhiles running our formerly sovereign country, Hillary has done it again! Commenting upon the appointment of Herman van Rompuy as the President of the European Union and of Catherine, Baroness Ashton as the Foreign Minister of the European Union, Mrs. Clinton was reported by the news agency, Agence France-Presse as describing her as “….my new counterpart….”

The Europhile former leader of the SDP, Doctor David Lord Owen on the BBC Radio Four this afternoon said that this was incorrect. The good Doctor is of course correct. There are differences. Mrs. Clinton was appointed by President Obama and as such conducts the Foreign Policy brief laid down by the elected President of the United States. She reports to him. When the two meet in Cabinet it is the President who chairs the meeting and sets the agenda. Catherine, Baroness Ashton however is in a superior position to Secretary of State Clinton, for from January 2010 there will be a monthly meeting of the 27 Foreign Minsters of the member [vassal] states of the Union, with that meeting being chaired and co-ordinated by Catherine, Baroness Ashton. It is she who will be in charge. Once a foreign policy decision is made it is her [the E.U.'s] writ that will run. Please note the text of the Lisbon Treaty:

“….The Union’s competence in matters of common foreign and security policy shall cover all areas of foreign policy and all questions relating to the Union’s security, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy, which might [means will] lead to a common defence….”

“….Member [vassal] States shall actively and unreservedly support the Union’s common foreign and security policy in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity and shall comply with the acts adopted by the Union in this area. They shall refrain from action contrary to the Union’s interests or likely to impair its effectiveness….”

Dear Reader: Please Note: Foreign governments are FULLY AWARE of the text of the Lisbon Treaty. They know that there is NO POINT AT ALL talking to the leaders and/or foreign minsters of the 27 member (vassal) states on a particular policy area that has been placed into the competence of the European Union. They will of course talk to Baroness Ashton – just as the Ministers of Trade and Industry of these nations talked to her when she was the Commissioner for Trade. That is why the job of President of the Board of Trade is no longer filled. That job is no longer there. It will not be very long before the France and U.K. are removed from their permanent seats on the Security Council of the United Nations and the European Union substituted. Expect the additional vacant seat to be taken up either by Japan or India.

Of course if India – the world’s most populous democracy – takes her place on the Security Council as a permanent member – here there will be the most poignant and depressing of all ironies as before 1947 India’s Foreign Policy was in the hands of the British Foreign & Colonial Secretary! In 2010, the British Foreign & Commonwealth Secretary will be a part time job to be conducted when the European Union decides!

For those readers desirous of seeing the new Imperial overlady herewith a You Tube video: